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I pressed one last kiss to his lips, then turned and walked off.
The rest of my classes passed in a daze. Merrick found me again at dinner and murmured into my ear, letting me know when and where to meet him and the others. We couldn’t be sure there was any place inside the walls of the academy where we wouldn’t be spied on, but we’d decided to avoid talking about any of our suspicions or plans in our rooms. It would be easiest for the admins to s
py on us there, and if Dean Frost was as suspicious of me as I thought she was, I didn’t want to make it easy for her to track my activity.
About twenty minutes after midnight, I pulled on my shoes and slipped out of my room, heading down to the practice rooms on the first floor. The hallways were dimly lit and eerily quiet. None of the students would be practicing magic this late at night, so I knew we wouldn’t have any disturbances.
When I rounded the corner, I found all three men standing outside one of the practice rooms, waiting for me.
Trace bowed dramatically. “The lady has arrived.”
“I like to keep you waiting.” I smirked, lifting one shoulder.
Merrick huffed a laugh. “That’s an understatement.”
Lachlan grinned, dipping his head to kiss me on the cheek. “For you, lass? I’d wait forever.”
We entered the practice room and Trace used a new spell he’d learned to seal the door from anyone trying to listen from the outside. The room was set up sort of like the big rooms at the boxing gym where I had trained with Vin. The space was open, and mats lined the floor, meant to soften the blow if students were thrown off their feet by backlash from a spell.
We all sat down on the mats, and Merrick leaned back on his hands, his long legs in front of him. “It’s been hard to find time to talk—or at least, time when we can be relatively certain we aren’t being watched. So now that we have a chance, let’s go over what we all learned in the gods’ palace one more time.”
Trace shrugged. “I really didn’t learn that much. The wine is gross, the women are kind of snobs, and apparently the gods don’t like it when you trip over their feet. Other than that, they gossip a lot but, most of it is just senseless and useless.”
Merrick nodded. “That’s pretty much what I got too. I didn’t have enough time to really snoop before getting pulled out of there. The crowds were heavy, and messengers and other mages were everywhere.”
Lachlan rubbed his nose, pursing his lips. “The only thing I overheard was that there’s a leader among the gods. I didn’t get his name or anythin’ though. I’m assuming it was the big bloke sittin’ on that giant golden throne.”
“Yeah.” I nodded grimly. “That’s him. His name is Omari, and I think he’s the unofficial leader. There’s another god named Ryker who opposes him, and it sounded like they’re sort of fighting for the support of the other gods. They disagree about how to handle some threat, I got that much—but I couldn’t tell you what that threat is.”
Trace looked suspiciously around the room. “Speaking of threats, what about the fact that I constantly feel like I’m being watched?”
Merrick nodded. “I feel that way too. Like there’s always someone just a few steps behind me. I never feel alone anymore. I really thought it was just me being paranoid, but who the fuck knows? There could be something to it.”
Lachlan scratched the back of his neck, a scowl creasing his face. “I hate feelin’ like I’m bein’ watched. I’m just gonna have to start givin’ them a show when I’m in the shower. Swing it around a little bit.”
He gyrated his hips, as if he was worried we might not’ve understood what he meant, and a laugh burst from my lips before I could stop it. The sound bounced off the walls, and I looked around quickly. I knew Trace had used his magic to help block noises from escaping, but my heart still beat a little faster.
“Well, we know for sure that the playing area is watched during the challenge—not just by the gods, but by the admins, students, and even by magic users outside of the academy, if what I’ve heard is right. And we know that our illusions went missing for about a week. Eden said they just stopped showing us on the feed. She thought we’d died.”
Trace frowned. “You think Frost knows we snuck out? If they knew, why wouldn’t they have stopped us? Or, hell, killed us?”
“I don’t know.” I bit my lip. “That’s what gives me hope that maybe they don’t know. But we have to consider the possibility that the admins and possibly even the gods know that we’ve been poking around.”
Lachlan let out a low grunt. “That wouldn’t be good.”
I shook my head. “No. And I hate that we took that risk and have nothing to show for it. The fact that we have to wait until next semester to go back absolutely drives me crazy.”
“That is, if we even qualify next time.” Merrick lifted an eyebrow. “It’s getting harder and harder every time we go in there, and by next fall, I have no idea what we’ll have to face.”
My gaze shifted around the small circle we had formed as the men continued to talk.
It suddenly hit me how lucky we were to have all made it back in one piece. Just the thought of the guys taking that kind of risk again made me want to punch a fucking wall. I hated it. At the same time, though, I loved the fact that they were willing to try.
They might say they were doing this just for me, but I knew that wasn’t true. And their dedication to the truth, to helping others like ourselves, made me care about them even more.
It made me love them.
I love them.
